I need a little encouragement from all you mommas. I am currently breastfeeding my third son and previously had weaned my others at a year (due to misinformation, no support, young/stupid!). He is about to turn a year in a few weeks and I want to keep going, but how do I know that it is right for us? He is a little guy...not even doubled his birthweight yet, so I want to make sure he is getting enough calories. He still nurses quite a bit...4-5 times during the day and at least once at night, plus he has about 4 solid snacks in between nursing. So please share. I would love to hear any good information about the continued health benefits as well as lovely toddler nursing stories!

The fact the he is smaller is more then enough to keep on going, there is no better food then BM. The WHO recommends a minimum of two years. All the benefits of nursing doesn't stop just because he is almost one, everything still applies.

I could not imagine my dc weaning at a year, two is my min, dd1 who will be 4 soon is still nursing. I loved nursing a toddler, easy to calm them down, just offer a boob.

The only one who can decide if it's right for you to continue breastfeeding past a year is you.

I never really gave it much thought til my daughter got closer to the 1 year mark. I actually kind've thought we would wean then, as she was only nursing maybe once or twice a day. I've seriously contemplated weaning her more than once, for multiple reasons...she eats 3 meals of tablefood a day, she often goes a day or two without nursing at all, my DH has commented in passing that he thinks our sex life would improve if I weaned and he got my boobies back (the 3 times he's mentioned it, he quickly followed it up with "I'm NOT telling you to wean, she's more important than I am and I can wait.), and sometimes it's just HARD to nurse her now because she likes to try new things...like nursing upside down or seeing how far my nipple will stretch.

But, when I actually think about what it would be like to never nurse her again, I get teary-eyed. I'm tearing up right now, just talking about thinking about weaning. So I know I'm not ready yet. So...I'll keep on nursing, cause if I nurse her today, I can always wean tomorrow, but if I wean today, I can't nurse her tomorrow.

I agree one huge reason to keep nursing is because he's smaller. DS is on the small side (finally beginning to catch up at 15mo) and he eats a ton of solids, but even on the days he doesn't feel like eating much I know he's getting all the nutrition he needs because he still nurses (A LOT!) I can see him growing and thriving and I feel confident that what I'm doing is the right thing.

Like the PP said, the WHO recommends nursing until the age of two. Human babies need human milk for AT LEAST that long. There's really no good reason that any baby should need to wean from nursing before age 2, except where there's a serious health issue with the mother.

the levels of antibodies and fats go up after the first year, and it sounds as if he needs those. i am not sure why you would want to wean him if you are happy with bf and so is he? it is absolutely the best substance he will take in, it will see you both through illnesses and teething, bumps and bruises, and all the ups and downs of the toddler times, not to mention assure you he is getting wonderful nutrition if he doesn't want to eat much or just doesn't feel like it. the fact is that it is the best choice you could make for him healthwise, and bf is protective for you healthwise too. if you do still want to bf there are many reasons to continue.

as for stories? i could give you pages of our adventures..lol. we have ups and downs, but they still bf 4-5 times a day, and they have never been seriously sick as most of the toddlers around us have, they are smart, funny, well-adjusted, and have learned so many things at the breast that i would never raise kids any other way if i had this option open. they only get one start in life, and i want to give them the best one i can.

all the cuddle time. my little guy is always on the go and the only time he stops is for boo time. as well, i can stop almost any temper tantrum in seconds (i try to only quiet him in public at home he can scream) or make him feel better with ease.

and last week he had a fever which i discovered quickly due to skin to skin contact and i was able to help comfort him right away.

sometimes, relaxing with a two year old can be quit challenging, but when my ds latches on i still get that rush of what ever that hormone is and we just swoon.

My 2yo is just self-weaning (has only nursed once in the past week) but shortly after 1 he stopped nursing as frequently. I was relieved to find we could nurse less as the year went by but still have the nursing relationship. First he went down to 3x per day plus once in the night, then just wake-up and bedtime, finally just wake-up. Somewhere in there, thank goodness, he finally dropped the middle-of-the-night nursing. (around 19 mos).

My son still got all those colds last winter (and by the way so did I! guess my antibodies aren't as good as some of you other moms!) but I sure was glad he could nurse for comfort and nutrition, b/c often sick babies/toddlers don't eat. And when all the kids in the neighborhood got a stomach virus-- and many of the parents too-- I was really glad he was nursing and not only drinking salty-sugar-water, since food was definitely not going down, or staying down. I think this would be a bigger issue with a smaller baby, my chubby lad could have suffered a few days with not much calories and not shown it.

He's always been a big guy, but he didn't like baby food, didn't get teeth until a week before his first b'day, refused bottles, and only recently started drinking cow milk. So I maybe didn't have much choice about continuing to nurse... but I am happy about how it all turned out. Weaning has been a slow process, and I think its been pretty painless for both of us, emotionally and physically. I never refused to nurse if he was really adamant, I just decided around 15 mos to stop offering and wait for him to ask (he had both a sign and a word for it by 1 yr). Now that he's pretty much stopped, I have not had any discomfort with the weaning.

If your son is still nursing that much, he still needs it.
Human milk is superior to cow's milk.

I just kept going past a year because it's what felt natural. I never even thought of weaning at a year.

:

For me, it's the connection, the eye contact, as well as everything else that's been mentioned in this thread. I still nurse my 3.75 yo once or twice a day--it just comes naturally to us, and it's a great few minutes of special contact & innocent snuggle time. It will be gone from our relationship soooo soon, and forever. Enjoy your moments together!

When dd hit a year old, she was not interested in any solids. She would try tastes now and then but that was it. So I didn't hesitate to keep breastfeeding.

It always helped reassure me that as poor as her eating was (it took a looonnng time for her eating choices to expand), she was getting good nutrition from the breastfeeding.

It was also such a comfort thing for her ... and for me!

And lo and behold, I nursed her until she self weaned at age 4 (about 6 months ago). If you had asked me when she was born if I was going to nurse that long, I would have looked at you as if you were crazy.

I think the nursing relationship just develops differently for each person

Thanks everyone for all your encouraging words and stories. I have decided to keep breastfeeding him until he is done with the boobies. I realized that part of my hesitation stemmed from my family's disaproval. I wasn't breastfed as a child and my parents weren't always that supportive. When I lost a little too much weight (and am still having a hard time gaining) they suggested that I wean him, but I was not even about to give him formula. As long as I am healthy, I see no reason to stop breastfeeding despite my thin frame.

It's a matter of being right for him. All medical groups I've seen say that a full fat milk is needed for two full years. Makes no sense to take away the species specific milk and replace it with milk from a very different species.

Actually, I would encourage MORE nursing from what you describe. My 2yr old nurses more than that.

Thanks everyone for all your encouraging words and stories. I have decided to keep breastfeeding him until he is done with the boobies. I realized that part of my hesitation stemmed from my family's disaproval. I wasn't breastfed as a child and my parents weren't always that supportive. When I lost a little too much weight (and am still having a hard time gaining) they suggested that I wean him, but I was not even about to give him formula. As long as I am healthy, I see no reason to stop breastfeeding despite my thin frame.

I can relate to the family's disapproval. I would get the "are you still doing that?" comments. I just said "yes" and then politely ignored anything else about it. Easier said than done sometimes. Parents can really put the pressure on!

As for you not gaining, I had trouble with this too. I would often forget to eat. I needed lots of snacks around that were easy to grab: stuff like nuts, fruit, cheeses, cereal, peanut butter sandwich. Things I could even eat with one hand while nursing.

I would try to plan ahead the night before or that morning and have stuff on hand that I could graze on. Those toddler trays that parents put out for their children? DD never showed much interest but I always had one for me!